265:("Chocolates Cannot Go to the Caramels’ Party"). Tío earned a “bad name” for himself, and endured prison sentences for any street or backyard quarrel, up until the 1960s, when “Mongo Familia” was able once and for all to spring him from the El Príncipe prison, which the rumberos facetiously called “The Principal in the Comedy,” in reference to an historical theater in Havana. Later on, “Mongo Familia” managed to register Tío’s works in Tío’s own name, with the assistance of the pianist Enriqueta Almanza, who transcribed them in music notation so that Asencio could claim his composer’s rights and avoid the repeated ripoffs of which he had been a victim.
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288:, and those who came along later. His voice, his dance steps, his drumstrokes, and his talent were found throughout the solares “El Palimar” (in La Víbora), “La Siguanea” (El Cerro), “El África” (Cayo Hueso), and the like in Atarés, Belén, Jesús María, Los Sitios, Pueblo Nuevo, Guanabacoa, and the rumbero neighborhoods of metropolitan Havana.
201:. His father, Nicanor, was a stevedore on the La Machina dock; his mother, Carmelina, a great pastry cook. Gonzalo as a child worked as shoeshine boy, newspaper peddler, bricklayer’s assistant, and day laborer, while he studied in primary school. In the 1920s, the family moved to several neighborhoods, from 10 de Octubre to
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Asencio's uncertain and bohemian lifestyle was exploited by certain “professional” musicians who registered his compositions as their own, stripping him of his author’s rights. Only in 1982 did musicians, writers, and disc jockeys manage to organize a tribute to him, in Havana’s
153:. Asencio was the author of hundreds of pieces that for decades were sung and danced by Cubans without knowing who created them, except among circles of rumba musicians. Among his most famous compositions are
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Asencio was fifteen years old when he began composing. He knew by heart rumbas “from the time of Spain,” such as
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In his youth, Tío Tom met many of the rumberos of the time, among them those known as
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He composed other controversial rumbas, such as his satire of
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The first of Tío Tom's guaguancós to attain popularity was
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Orlando "Puntilla" Rios y El Conjunto Todo Rumbero on
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A la fiesta de los caramelos no pueden ir los bombones
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306:A Tribute to Gonzalo Asencio, "Tío Tom"
183:Plaza of the Revolution Cultural Center
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213:. Finally, Tío settled in neighboring
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282:Carburo, el Güinero
223:Tú ves, yo no lloro
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301:Discography
278:Alberto Noa
318:Categories
274:Mario Alan
250:José Martí
215:Guanabacoa
195:Cayo Hueso
143:Afro-Cuban
141:), was an
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104:June 2021
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